Page 8A
NATION/WORLD
East Oregonian
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
China struggles to
curb reliance on
U.S. buyers, suppliers
Shooting killed gamers seeking
money for college, support family
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
(AP) — A California man
who played video games
to earn money for college
and a West Virginian whose
e-sports winnings helped
support his young family
were slain at a Florida tour-
nament where a gunman
specifically targeted fellow
gamers, authorities said
Monday.
David Katz, 24, of Bal-
timore fatally shot him-
self after killing the two
men and wounding 10 oth-
ers Sunday inside a pizzeria
and bar that were hosting
a “Madden NFL 19” tour-
nament. Katz was among
about 130 gamers attending
the competition at a mall in
Jacksonville.
Court records in Mary-
land reviewed by The Asso-
ciated Press show Katz had
previously been hospi-
talized for mental illness.
Divorce filings from his
parents say that as an ado-
lescent he was twice hospi-
talized in psychiatric facil-
ities and was prescribed
antipsychotic and antide-
pressant medications.
Katz carried two hand-
guns,
including
one
equipped with a laser sight,
into the tournament venue
but only fired one of them,
Jacksonville Sheriff Mike
Williams told a news con-
ference Monday. He said
surveillance video revealed
Katz was the only shooter,
but his motive remains
unknown.
“The suspect clearly tar-
AP Photo/John Raoux
A police officer walks by the front of a Chicago Pizza
and GLHF Game Bar on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018, at the
scene of fatal shooting on Sunday, at The Jacksonville
Landing in Jacksonville, Fla. A gunman opened fire at
a video game tournament, killing two people and then
fatally shooting himself in a rampage that wounded
several others.
geted other gamers who
were in the back room” of
the pizzeria, Williams said.
“The suspect walked past
patrons who were in other
parts of the business and
focused his attention on the
gamers.”
Investigators determined
Katz bought both guns in
Baltimore within the past
month. But Williams said
there’s no indication he
planned the shooting before
Sunday.
In a statement Monday
evening EA CEO Andrew
Wilson said he is cancel-
ing the remaining qualifier
events to focus on safety.
“We have made a deci-
sion to cancel our three
remaining Madden Clas-
sic qualifier events while
we run a comprehensive
review of safety proto-
cols for competitors and
spectators.”
The sheriff had previ-
ously said nine people were
wounded by gunfire, but
told reporters Monday the
total was 10. All of them,
he said, were expected to
recover.
The sheriff’s office iden-
tified the dead as 22-year-
old Elijah Clayton of Wood-
land Hills, California, and
28-year-old Taylor Robert-
son of Giles, West Virginia.
Clayton’s parents and
other relatives gathered
outside police headquarters
Monday in Jacksonville to
give a brief statement. A
cousin, Brandi Pettijohn,
said the family was “devas-
tated by yet another sense-
less act of gun violence.”
She said Clayton was a
good, peaceful man who
never had a fistfight.
“He loved football, and
out of all the videogames
he could play, he settled on
and mastered ‘Madden,’”
Pettijohn said. “He made
a good living gaming, and
he saved his earnings so he
could afford to go to college
to continue his education.”
Robertson, who used the
gamer tag “Spotmeplzzz,”
won the Madden Classic
tournament in 2016. In a
YouTube interview pub-
lished by EA Sports, Rob-
ertson said he had played
Madden NFL since he was
10 and started playing com-
petitively a few years ago.
“It’s certainly possible
for any player to do this,”
Robertson said in the video.
“You’ve just got to put in
the time. You’ve got to
grind. You’ve got to play a
lot of games and just work-
ing on getting better.”
Fellow gamers described
Robertson as a family man
dedicated to his wife and
children.
Gamer Derek Jones,
who lost to Robertson in
the 2016 tournament, said
his onetime rival was “one
of the nicest people I ever
met.”
“There’s no way that guy
did anything to deserve to
get shot,” said Jones, who
traveled to the Florida tour-
nament from Santa Fe, New
Mexico. “He’s got a family
at home, and he just came
out here to try to win some
money for this family.”
By JOE MCDONALD
AP Business Writer
BEIJING (AP) — Faced
with plunging U.S. orders,
surgical glove maker Ren
Jiding is hunting for new
markets amid Chinese gov-
ernment calls to reduce reli-
ance on the United States.
But none can absorb the
60 percent of his sales that
went to American custom-
ers last year.
“Other
countries
import much less than the
United States,” said Ren,
a co-owner of Hongye-
shangqin Medical Science
and Technology Co., Ltd. in
the eastern city of Zibo.
From medical products
to smartphone chips to soy-
beans, Beijing is respond-
ing to President Donald
Trump’s tariff hikes by
pushing companies to trade
more with other countries.
But there are few substitutes
for the United States as an
export market and source
of technology for industries
including telecom equip-
ment makers Chinese lead-
ers are eager to develop.
Beijing has announced
tariff cuts and other
changes while reject-
ing U.S. demands to scale
back plans such as “Made
in China 2025,” which
calls for state-led creation
of Chinese champions in
robotics, biotech and other
fields. American leaders say
those violate Beijing’s mar-
ket-opening promises and
might erode U.S. industrial
leadership.
The response highlights
the cost the ruling Com-
munist Party is willing to
pay in lost sales and jobs to
stick to plans that are fuel-
ing conflict with Washing-
ton, Europe and other trad-
ing partners.
“China sees its tech-
nology and industrial pol-
icies as fundamental to
its growth,” Tianjie He of
Under pressure, Trump tersely recognizes McCain, lowers flag
WASHINGTON
(AP)
— Glowering in public and
near-silent for two days,
President Donald Trump
relented under pressure Mon-
day by tersely recognizing
Sen. John McCain’s “service
to our country” and re-lower-
ing the White House flag.
While much of the nation
remembered
McCain’s
record as a war hero, long-
time senator and presidential
nominee over the weekend,
Trump had nursed his griev-
ances. McCain had been an
infuriating foil in a long-run-
ning feud over style and pol-
icy that did not end with the
senator’s illness and death.
Trump’s reluctance to
participate in the national
remembrance was awkward
and uncomfortable, even by
the standards of a leader who
acknowledges he doesn’t act
like a typical president. The
episode highlighted the out-
sider president’s impulse
to harbor personal resent-
ments regardless of political
repercussions.
Before Trump’s Monday
afternoon statement, his only
commentary on McCain’s
death had been a perfunctory
tweet Saturday. The lack of
a formal statement — com-
bined with the fact that White
House flags were flown at
half-staff only briefly —
drew strong criticism from
Republicans and veterans’
groups as well as Democrats.
When he finally did com-
ment, in a printed statement,
Trump was sparing with his
praise for the six-term sen-
ator: “Despite our differ-
ences on policy and poli-
tics, I respect Senator John
McCain’s service to our
country.”
Oxford Economics said in
an email. “It is thus hard
to see China’s leadership
committing to significant
changes.”
Trump has raised duties
on a total of $50 billion of
Chinese imports includ-
ing ultrasound scanners
and industrial components
that Washington says bene-
fit from improper policies.
China retaliated with simi-
lar penalties.
The U.S. is poised to
raise duties on $200 billion
of imports including the
gloves made by Ren’s com-
pany. Beijing has issued a
list of American goods for
retaliation.
The impact on China is
“small and is containable,
at least for the time being,”
said Vincent Chan of Credit
Suisse. He said the “worst
case” outlook if all threat-
ened U.S. tariff hikes go
ahead would cut China’s
growth by 0.2 percentage
points this year and 1.3 per-
cent in 2019.
Chinese leaders have
tried to cushion the blow
to their own economy by
targeting American goods
its importers can get from
other countries — soybeans
from Brazil, gas from Rus-
sia, cars from Germany and
fish from Vietnam.
Beijing has promised to
use revenue from the higher
tariffs to help struggling
exporters and has ordered
banks to lend more freely to
them.
The biggest jolt so far
came from Beijing’s can-
cellation of orders for soy-
beans, the biggest American
export to China at $21 bil-
lion last year.
That hammered farm
states that voted for Trump
in the 2016 election. It also
pushed up prices for Chi-
nese farmers that use soy-
beans for animal feed and
food processors that crush
them for cooking oil.
THANK YOU
to everyone who contributed and made the 2018 Umatilla County Fair possible.
Families came together from all over the county and beyond, to sacrifi ce their time to ensure that
our fair was such a huge success. A phrase does not exist to fully recognize and appreciate all of the
volunteers and sponsors who make the Umatilla County Fair possible. Every year we are overcome
with thankfulness as we reach out to our sponsors and volunteers for assistance in areas that we
just cannot cover alone. With great pride and humility, we wholeheartedly recognize that we would
not have a fair without the dedication, knowledge and resources so freely off ered by our sponsors,
partners and volunteers. Th ank you ALL for keeping the partnership alive for the sake of the
Umatilla County Fair and for every single person who braved the heat and the wind to attend.
-From the 2018 Umatilla County Fair Board & Staff-
OUR SINCEREST “THANKS” TO:
Title Sponsor:
Premier Platinum Sponsors:
Eastern Oregon Telecom • Hermiston Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
Platinum Sponsors:
3234 S.W. Nye Pendleton, OR
Join us at 5
August 30th
for our Annual
ROUND-UP
BBQ!
• Round-Up Queen & Court
• Happy Canyon Princesses
• Main Street Cowboys
• Side Saddlers
• Good Food
• Great Entertainment With
VENUES INSIDE AND OUT.
Dynes Enterprises • Hodgen Distributing
• Lamb Weston • Rogers Toyota of Hermiston
Gold Sponsors:
A-1 Industrial • Banner Bank • CALPINE • Elmer’s Irrigation • EOTEC • Les Schwab Tires
• Midway Bar & Grill • Pendleton Bottling Co. • Th reemile Canyon Farms
• Tom Denchel Ford Country
Kick-Off Parade Sponsor:
V.I.P. Hospitality Tent Sponsor:
Ranch & Home
Builders FirstSource
Silver Sponsors:
East Oregonian/Hermiston Herald • Family Health Associates • JOB Harvesting
• Oxford Suites • Knerr Construction • KOHU/Th e Q • Preferred Property Management
• Shelco Electric • St. Anthony Hospital • Stanfi eld Hutterian Brethren
• Swire Coca-Cola • UEC
Bronze Sponsors:
Amazon Web Services • American Fencing • BBSI • Comrie RV • DuPont Pioneer Seed
• Golden Valley East • Gordon Trucking Centers • Oregon Beverage Services
• Woodpecker Truck & Equipment
Specialty & In-Kind Sponsors
Specialty & In-Kind Sponsors • Agri Northwest • Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo
• Blue Mtn. Potato Growers & Oregon Potato Commission • Bonney’s Ag & Auto • Bud Rich Potato
• Buttercreek Equipment • Cenex Harvest States • City Of Hermiston • Columbia Bank
• Columbia Harvest Foods • Cunningham Sheep • EOM Construction • Eastern Oregon Mobile Slaughter
• Farm City Pro Rodeo • Fiesta Foods • Friends of the Fair & Rodeo • G-2 Farming • Golden Valley East
• Heller & Sons • Hermiston Chamber of Commerce • High Performance Signs • JH Kelly Construction
• Krisanthemums • Mid Columbia Bus Co. • Melonville Sound • M&M Potato • Morrow County Fair Board
• Mosquito Control District • Noble Panels • Nutrien Ag Solutions • NW Farm Supply • Ordnance Brewing
• Oregon Distillery • Oregon Fresh Lamb • Oregon Wheat Growers • Pacifi c Ag Solutions • Pape´ Rents
• Pasco Farming • Pendleton Chamber of Commerce • RDO • Reinie & Judy Fischer • Riverpoint Farms
• Sanitary Disposal • S&S Equipment • Skye & Penny Krebs of Krebs Sheep Co. • Smitty’s Ace Hardware
• Sno Road Winery • Superior Farms • TCB Transportation • Tyson Meats
• Umatilla County Cattlemans Association• Umpqua Bank • US Navy • Vazza Farms
• Velasco Used Cars • Walchlis • Western Ag Improvement
Media Partners:
Townsquare Media • Cherry Creek Media • Radio TriCities • Agritimes NW • Alexandria Communications
• Stephens Media Group • Jacobs Radio • Northeast Oregon Now • Th e Entertainer • KAPP/KVEW TV
• Radio Laley • La Voz • Elkhorn Media
SPECIAL THANK YOU
to our 2018 Grand Marshalls
Greg & Sherri Smith
and our 2017 Volunteers of the Year
Alice Dyer and Steve Kelsoe